http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/ng/ en-us Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:03:48 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061302/posts Mideast edition, Thursday, August 14, 2008 ARLINGTON, Va. — President Bush has ordered the U.S. military to begin a humanitarian mission in Georgia. "This mission will be vigorous and ongoing," Bush said Wednesday at the White House, adding that a U.S. C-17 aircraft with humanitarian supplies was on its way to Georgia. Russian troops and tanks invaded the country last week in response to a Georgian offensive intended to retake the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The Russian president later ordered Russian forces to halt their drive into Georgia, but it was unclear Wednesday whether Russian troops had moved further... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061302/posts#comment Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:03:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061227/posts In late 2006, China for the first time in its history became a net coal importer. This changed the dyanmics of the world's energy market. Korea and Japan, previously importers of Chinese coal, were sent scrambling for alternative sources of energy. What they found in the winter of 2007 was LNG for $18-$20/BTU. China too was a willing buyer. The coal scramble was also felt in Europe. Australian coal was bottlenecked and/or kept in the Asian region. Power outages in South African coal mines made the situation worse for Europeans as they lost out on significant supply. What followed was... Seeking Alpha http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2061227/posts#comment Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:01:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028518/posts When Defense Secretary Robert Gates summarily fired the top civilian and military Air Force officials last week, the reason he gave was a grave failure of leadership with respect to that service’s nuclear missions. The low priority assigned by the Pentagon to its nuclear stewardship responsibilities is systemic and acute. Consequently, this act of accountability is both warranted and a needed wake-up call to all the armed forces. As it happens, there is another ground on which the dismissal of Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne could be justified. He was specifically brought in to clean up Air Force procurement, but... Townhall http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2028518/posts#comment Mon, 9 Jun 2008 22:26:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739961/posts CAMP BUEHRING, Kuwait, Nov. 16, 2006 -- Instead of climbing aboard a snowmobile to track prey and patrol the vast wilderness, they now slide into military vehicles and patrol a sandy wasteland, looking for suspicious activity. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Alan Feaster, 3rd Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment command sergeant major, listens to a training discussion at Camp Shelby, Miss., before the unit deployed to Kuwait. U.S. Army photo  '(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Leaving behind frozen tundra to serve in a scorching desert, hundreds of soldiers from the Alaska National Guard have taken over the quick-reaction force and... American Forces Press Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1739961/posts#comment Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:05:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1693218/posts BROWNSVILLE, Texas- Border Patrol agents aided by National Guard members arrested a 22-year-old suspected member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang on Wednesday as he tried to re-enter the United States, Customs and Border Protection said. Andres Gonzalo Manzaneres, of El Salvador, was one of nine illegal immigrants spotted by National Guard members monitoring images from surveillance cameras placed near the Los Tomates international bridge in Brownsville. The Guard members alerted Border Patrol agents in the field, who arrested the immigrants. Agents processing Manzaneres noticed MS-13 style tattoos on his body, and said a fingerprint scan turned up... Corpus Christi Caller-Times./AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1693218/posts#comment Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:41:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671361/posts Troops arrive on the border"Welcome. I'm glad you're here and we can use your help," said Chief Patrol Agent Simon Garza, Jr., as he welcomed Texas National Guard soldiers to Customs and Border Protection's Border Patrol Marfa Sector earlier this week. The guard contingent is part of an overall deployment on the Southwest Border of the United States to assist the Border Patrol. "We've worked with the guard for a number of years so we know each other," said Garza. National Guard troops have been deployed in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas as a request from President Bush in... Alpine Avalanche http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671361/posts#comment Mon, 24 Jul 2006 17:37:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1480664/posts ARLINGTON, Va. — Active duty troops will not be used to forcibly evacuate people from New Orleans, but National Guard troops might, the deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command said Wednesday. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin instructed law enforcement officers and the U.S. military late Tuesday to evacuate all holdouts for their own safety. But none have been forcibly removed yet, said Army Lt. Gen. Joseph Inge. Should authorities decide to remove the people, that task would fall to the roughly 900 New Orleans police officers still on duty and the National Guard, he said. Since forcible evacuations would be... Stars & Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1480664/posts#comment Fri, 9 Sep 2005 02:18:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1445498/posts LANCASTER - Entire units of soldiers stationed in Iraq will soon be receiving many items that are difficult or impossible for them to get, thanks to the efforts of an Antelope Valley Hospital nurse. Wendy Fuentes, assistant director of the 2 Tower telemetry unit at the hospital , has gathered hundreds of nonperishable items, from beef jerky to toothpaste, and assembled large care packages to send to various units stationed in Iraq. Many hospital employees have gotten behind the effort, donating items as well as money for the considerable postage required to get the packages to their destinations. "Wendy Fuentes... Valley Press on http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1445498/posts#comment Mon, 18 Jul 2005 20:41:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437953/posts OAHU, Hawaii (Army News Service July 6, 2005) - More than 150 Soldiers from the Guam Army National Guard returned to Hawaii after serving a year with Combined Joint Task Force -- Horn of Africa June 28. Although the Company A, 294th Infantry Regiment (Light) has deployed in the past, this marks the first time the unit has deployed in support of a combat mission. The task force oversees counterterrorism operations in the Horn of Africa for U.S. Central Command in support of the Global War on Terrorism, as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. Several family members traveled to meet... ARNEWS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1437953/posts#comment Thu, 7 Jul 2005 00:26:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1435353/posts LANCASTER - The joint-Lancaster-Palmdale "Salute to Troops" event scheduled for July 10 at JetHawks Stadium will include a visit by the commanding general of a storied California National Guard division and a star of the Iraq war, an M-1A Abrams battle tank. National Guard troops from Lancaster, Palmdale, and all across the Antelope Valley have served in Iraq. A Marine Corps Reserve helicopter squadron from Edwards Air Force Base is serving in Iraq now, and the other Marine Reserve helicopter unit based at Edwards served in Afghanistan last year. The Lancaster-based National Guard 756th Transportation Co. is back in Iraq,... Valley Press on http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1435353/posts#comment Sat, 2 Jul 2005 17:22:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1358662/posts PALMDALE - For Phelan resident Kevin Scott, it means seeing his 1-year-old daughter walk. For Tehachapi resident William Maybee, it's a new appreciation of what family and friends mean. For Wrightwood resident Adam Gorey, it means a honeymoon. For soldiers from Bravo Company, 185th Armored Regiment of the California Army National Guard, it means they can move on with their lives after more than a year. Two buses carrying the soldiers from the Palmdale Armory arrived in Poncitlan Square on Monday to a throng of supporters and to the arms of their families. "Today, we welcome soldiers who have fought... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1358662/posts#comment Tue, 8 Mar 2005 20:35:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1326784/posts Where danger is all around They started arriving in this dark and deadly part of the world a year ago. Young and old. Men and women. Plumbers, police officers and prison guards. The Virginia National Guardsmen from the 276th Engineer Battalion left their families. They left their jobs. They left their homes to help rebuild and protect Iraq, a country struggling with a robust insurgency. They found and destroyed roadside bombs. They protected other U.S. troops from suicide car bombers. They gave children school supplies and soccer balls. Meanwhile, insurgents persistently attacked the Virginia engineers with rockets, mortars and improvised... The Richmond TimesDispatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1326784/posts#comment Sun, 23 Jan 2005 19:49:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1266374/posts TWENTY YEARS AGO today, San Francisco auto broker Paul Cosner disappeared. Cosner's sister Sharon Sellitto told the police her brother was missing, but they wouldn't come to his apartment. Police, however, did show up when she reported his 1980 Honda Prelude stolen. It was that car that ended one of California's most heinous killing sprees seven months later. Killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng had been driving the car when they were caught shoplifting in South San Francisco. Ng escaped, but police nabbed Lake, who swallowed a cyanide pill and died. Police then traced the bullet-riddled car to the missing... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1266374/posts#comment Tue, 2 Nov 2004 15:50:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1218844/posts 126th National Guard Association of the United States General ConferenceFor Immediate Release Las Vegas, NV - I’m honored to be here today at your 126th Convention.  I can’t tell you how proud I am to stand before you – and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to talk with you today. I came out here because I wanted to look you in the eye and say thank you.  Thank you for your service; thank you for caring; thank you for the sacrifices you and your families make for our country. I come from a state with a great... Kerry-Edwards Campaign http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1218844/posts#comment Fri, 17 Sep 2004 14:24:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1207368/posts EDWARDS AFB - In support of real-world operations, testers from the Global Power Fighters Combined Test Force performed accelerated testing to equip the F-16, for the first time ever, with a 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munition, or GBU-38, that was completed July 16. The 416th Flight Test Squadron built up to the release of three inert, guided GBU-38 weapons from a Block 30 F-16 at China Lake Warfare Center Weapons Division Range from July 13 through 16, and successfully completed developmental testing. "In 30 days, operational and developmental testing was completed, which is a huge success highlighting the abilities of... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1207368/posts#comment Sat, 4 Sep 2004 16:48:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1166516/posts Thom Shanker's story in the Sunday New York Times explores how post-9/11 commitments will require a rethink of the National Guard and National Reserves in defese planning: The National Guard and Reserves must be fundamentally revamped if they are to carry the growing burden placed on them in support of the administration's military strategy, according to many commanders, Pentagon officials and respected national security experts. With hundreds of thousands of these citizen-soldiers having deployed in the combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and others engaged in missions related to the global campaign against terrorism overseas and here at home, these... Daniel W. Drezner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1166516/posts#comment Wed, 7 Jul 2004 01:28:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1149150/posts KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Military officials and the FBI are investigating a series of suspicious phone calls to families of recently-activated Tennessee Army National Guard soldiers possibly bound for Iraq. The wife of a soldier in the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment told WVLT-TV this week her daughter had taken strange calls from a man with an accent who questioned her about the unit's deployment itinerary. R. Joe Clark, special agent in charge of the FBI's Knoxville office, said he was not aware of similar phone calls reported elsewhere in the country. "It's not as much an investigation as it is a... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1149150/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jun 2004 15:35:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140201/posts SACRAMENTO - The California National Guard's 1498th Transportation Company will return from their Iraq tour, flying in to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside. Soldiers are scheduled to return on two flights - at 5:20 and 6:25 p.m. today. Approximately 220 soldiers in desert camouflage uniforms are expected to be greeted by family and friends, and will be welcomed home with a barbecue and bagpipe music. The mission of the 1498th, which includes dozens of Antelope Valley residents as well as reservists from across the Southland, was to use its heavy equipment transporter systems to move equipment and supplies from... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1140201/posts#comment Sat, 22 May 2004 04:09:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1124152/posts CAMP VICTORY, KUWAIT - Along Iraq's dangerous roads drive the convoys of the 1498th Transportation Co. of the California National Guard. About a third of the soldiers in the company of more than 200 Guard troops hail from the Antelope Valley. Other units that make up the company come from Riverside and Sacramento, but soldiers from across California are assigned to it. One soldier is Sgt. Peter Mavropoulos of Riverside, whose father resided for many years in Lancaster. Mavropoulos and Sgt. Doug Duhaime of Hesperia escorted the Valley Press editor on a combat support convoy across Iraq in 2003 in... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1124152/posts#comment Sun, 25 Apr 2004 17:36:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1116496/posts EDITOR'S NOTE: Valley Press Editor Dennis Anderson, who embedded with a California National Guard unit deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom last year, has rejoined them as they near the one-year mark in Iraq and Kuwait. CAMP VICTORY, Kuwait - It was nearly Easter Sunday and Sgt. John O'Hern declared a small victory in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "I managed to send flowers home to my wife and daughter," O'Hern said, grinning. During his tour, O'Hern, of the Riverside area, managed a couple of other small victories. He alerted the higher levels of command, right up to Congress, that National Guard troops... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1116496/posts#comment Tue, 13 Apr 2004 03:16:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1114823/posts CAMP VICTORY, KUWAIT - "The Things They Carried" was the title of a well-known Vietnam war reminiscence by Al Santoli that told the story of the war by describing the things the soldiers carried. Almost a year after deployment to Kuwait and Iraq, the tales brought home by soldiers of the California National Guard are among the things they carry. They carry other things, too. Laptop computers. Cell phones with expensive overseas "minutes plans." An endless succession of liter bottles of "Haji" water, mineral water bottled in Gulf states. Kool-Aid and Tang to flavor the water. Of course, DVD movies... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1114823/posts#comment Sat, 10 Apr 2004 01:29:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1078691/posts Often, on waking, my first thoughts roam to the desert, like a waking dream. Not the Mojave Desert of my Antelope Valley home, but the Iraqi desert where our local National Guard troops traverse the sand and pitted roads in convoys that sometimes fall under attack from the thugs who once served Saddam Hussein. Nothing exists out there as an attraction. As winter months end, the temperatures will climb from the daytime 90s past the 100-degree mark, then past 110, 120, 130, and finally past 140 degrees. Troops live in shelters ranging from palaces of the former dictator to canvas... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1078691/posts#comment Sun, 15 Feb 2004 19:21:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1078171/posts Most of the National Guard soldiers from the Antelope Valley who deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom are posted near Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit on this Valentine's Day. It's a bittersweet anniversary for many of the spouses, relatives and the soldiers themselves. On Feb. 14 one year ago, the troops of the 756th Transportation Co. assembled at Lancaster City Hall. There they gave the most hurried of goodbyes to wives, and in some cases, husbands, and of course, children. From City Hall the soldiers traveled by bus to Camp Roberts on the central California coast, and on... Valley Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1078171/posts#comment Sat, 14 Feb 2004 17:36:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1070771/posts Statement from Governor Marc Racicot, Chairman, Bush-Cheney `04 Tue Feb 3 2004 12:31:55 ET ``Sen. Kerry is supporting a slanderous attack on the President by refusing to repudiate comments by DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe who on Sunday accused the President of being AWOL and said that his service in the National Guard did not qualify as service in the military or service to his country. ``President Bush served honorably in the National Guard. He was honorably discharged. To suggest, as Sen. Kerry has, that the military should 'answer questions' about President Bush`s honorable discharge is an outrage. The furtherance of... Drudge http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1070771/posts#comment Tue, 3 Feb 2004 18:49:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1064956/posts FORT POLK, La. (AP) - Men in Arab headdress detonate a homemade bomb along a roadway used by U.S. convoys. A suicide truck bomb rips through a troop encampment, killing dozens. An insult triggers fighting between Iraqi Kurds and Arabs. These events, staged at Fort Polk to replicate the dangers facing U.S. forces in Iraq, made clear to the 4,800 National Guardsmen training at this remote Army base that preparing for a postwar tour of duty is unlike anything they have done before. "We got a very big wake-up jolt" when the training kicked off in mid-January, said Brig. Gen.... The Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1064956/posts#comment Sun, 25 Jan 2004 18:44:20 GMT